I used to think lawyers were boring

I just started a new job last week, my second job as a paralegal since leaving the Peace Corps, which has been going very well so far.  Admittedly I haven't done much--the paralegal that I am replacing is still here, training me while still doing most of his job, plus the firm settled a few major cases right before I got here and the workload hasn't picked back up yet.  In the down time, I can research law schools, plan my upcoming vacation to D.C., and, well, blog.

I'm not entirely sure when or how I became interested in studying and practicing law, but it feels very right, and it's wonderful to be working towards something somewhat specific.  

Senior year of high school, my AP U.S. Government/Macroeconomics teacher told me that I should be a lawyer.  My class participated in a village government day where we could shadow someone within the local government--the day concluded with a mock council meeting where we actually got to decide (from among three or so choices) how a few hundred dollars should be used.  The drop boxes at the Schaumburg Metra Station, where residents can pay their water bills, are, to my knowledge, still there.  You're welcome, Schaumburg water bill-paying commuters!  

Sadly, I can't actually take credit for the group's choice--I remember being very disappointed that, as the Village Attorney for the day, I did not get to vote.  I had signed up too late to get any of the "cool" jobs, a sentiment that was probably all over my face when Ms. Howard suggested that I'd be a good fit for the role.  I'm surprised that I even remember that exchange, especially since I found the entire mock-government experience that followed to be incredibly boring (the poor village attorney's office was crammed in a dark basement somewhere--meanwhile, somewhere more fun, Lauren got her name printed on a real license plate.  I didn't even get to vote!).

And now I want to be an attorney?  Working in public interest, where my office will most likely be crammed in some narrow hallway in the darkest reaches of the ugliest building?

I have always liked to argue--my parents can vouch for that.  And supposedly before I got to be too smart[-assed] they could get to me do whatever they asked just by telling me, with a very serious face, that something was a "rule."  Maybe I was the dumbest toddler on the planet, or maybe I was just born with a healthy respect for the law.

Either way, here I am, trying to narrow down my list of schools to apply to once the applications become available in late August or September.  Right now I'm considering 14 different schools--if I apply to all of them, that's $881 in application fees.  Eek! (Also, if you're crazy and the $1 bothers you like it bothers me, Wisconsin-Madison is the cause, at $56.  But at least they're not $100 like Northwestern.  In fact Wisconsin is one of the cheapest, after University of Illinois, which is $0, and Indiana-Bloomington, which is $50).   

I'm limiting myself to schools in the Midwest, but even then, there are a lot of good choices here.  There's the top-notch "reach" schools (UChicago, Michigan, Northwestern), but then a lot of other universities (Wisconsin, Minnesota, U of I, Indiana, Iowa...) have great programs and could be an excellent fit.  I have a lot of considering to do.  It helps a lot, though, knowing that this is something that, despite my former disdain, I really really really want to do.